Is it now possible to use alsa instead of arts - i mean i can already compile kde with -arts, but then kde doesn't play system messages etc....

In the genkdesvn ebuilds, a patch posted in the gentoo bugzilla to allow notifications when kdelibs is built with -arts is used. Mario(the author of the ebuilds) modified the patch further to allow multiple/simultaneous sounds. Search for the bug or get the patch from the genkdesvn repository on berlios.de

arts is broken on my KDE 3.5 beta1. It is unable to play Ogg Vorbis, and play Wav file with difficulty for notifications.
If y try to modify some options in « kcmshell arts », then restart the deamon, I got a X.org freeze. (have to use alt+sys+e)

I will wrote a script to use aplay and ogg123 instead of arts.

Also, kioslave media:/ is not working correctly with hal 0.5. It is unable to mount. (fstab-sync is missing, I think, but it is deprecated)._________________Gentoo ~AMD64
Hoc Volo, Sic Jubeo !
Mon wiki : http://desintegr.free.fr

Akode seems to be broken on my system since I upgrade from KDE 3.4.2 to KDE 3.5 beta1.

If I try to launch a Wav file with artsplay, akode plugin will produce no sound.
If I try to launch a Mp3 file, I got a artsd crash (segfault)
And Ogg file produce a weird sound, cutted at the end, with xineplugin._________________Gentoo ~AMD64
Hoc Volo, Sic Jubeo !
Mon wiki : http://desintegr.free.fr